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Join the Conversation: How to Engage Marketing-Weary Consumers with the Power of Community, Dialogue, and Partnership
vBulletin Book Store > vBulletin books beginning with J
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Join the Conversation: How to Engage Marketing-Weary Consumers with the Power of Community, Dialogue, and Partnership |
Author: Joseph Jaffe
Published: 2007-10-19 |
List price: $29.95
Our price: $19.77
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Usually ships in 24 hours
As of: December 04th, 2008 05:36:25 PM
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Customer comments on this selection.
 Jaffe is right on!
In his newest book, Join the Conversation, Jaffe hits the nail on the head. Marketers need to come to terms with social media and understand that we now have the tools for building connections with consumers via the Internet. Conversational marketing give us the opportunity to go beyond engagement to experience, giving us the opportunity to form the bonds of community. Web 2.0 enables a new form of echo branding - where consumers develop an identification with a brand's values, this time through online conversations.
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br /The only negative thing I have to say about Jaffe's text is that his style is chatty and casual at times. However, this may actually make it more readable for some. At times it was a little much for me.
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br /In general, Jaffe's premise is right on. This is a great book for marketers and non-marketers alike. C-suite executives who haven't figured out the relevance of social media should read this book - and then make sure their companies join the conversation.
Thought-provoking Inspirational book
a href="http://www.amazon.com/review/R3RQ9PLSCXGRPR"Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R3RQ9PLSCXGRPR/a Join the Conversation: How to Engage Marketing-Weary Consumers with the Power of Community, Dialogue, and Partnership
 Join The Conversation Review
The biggest compliment I can give to Joseph Jaffe's new book, Join The Conversation (currently #37 on Amazon's business books list), is that I took so long to finish it despite receiving it in late February as part of the UNM2PNM initiative. I whiz through fiction fairly quickly, but when it comes to non-fiction, specifically marketing, communication or social media specific, I need to read the book with an open notebook and pen next to me so I can take notes and review them later. Obviously, this means more time because doing that on a bus can be a hassle, so many hours of camping at Starbucks and Borders later, I've finally finished the book and what can I say, it it any surprise I love it?
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br /The first thing I need to tell you, is that if you're already well immersed in this social media fishbowl, then as Joseph has said many times on the Jaffe Juice podcast, this book isn't really meant for you. It's less of a "how to" book and more of a "why you should" book, which you should probably pass on to your manager or CEO to read, and get more buy in for your social media experiments.
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br /What I really enjoyed were all the case studies. I'm almost embarrassed to mention that I didn't recognise most of them. I've realised more and more that case studies are important when trying to sell your social media idea. Showing the best examples of initiatives that worked, and the worst examples of ignoring the consumer (the latest comes from Joseph Jaffe himself with Delta Airlines), can work wonders in getting execs stuck in their prehistoric ways to wake up.
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br /If you're currently struggling with implementing a social media experiment, or even thinking about it, give the book a read. Learn from some successes and failures and do better! If you don't have the time to read it, try tuning in to Jaffe Juice (the podcast). I'd recommend starting with #105 which is a nice roundtable discussion with executives from different companies talking about their initiatives and the results.
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How Marketers can get on the Cluetrain
Last week on my way down to WOMMA-University
br /I threw Joseph Jaffe's latest tome - Join the Conversation in my bag. Once the doors to the plane closed and I could no longer frantically update Twitter, I opened it up and started reading. (We sat on the ground a LONG TIME so by the time I made Miami; I was through the whole thing.)
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br /Now a couple of weeks ago in my review I said that Groundswell is the how-to book for marketers wishing to play in a post-cluetrain world - and I now see that Join the Conversation bridges the intellectual divide between The Cluetrain Manifesto and Groundswell. The first half of the book is a bit scholarly - and while I was a bit put off by this at first, I really appreciate it having finished the book.
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br /When Jaffe reaches back to George Orwell's on media and connects it to Web 2.0 a single word pops into my mind. Subversive. That's what this whole social computing movement is. It's subversive because it's a revolution that takes power out of the hands of giant corporations and gives it back to people. With the Internet as plumbing we can find our tribe and talk to them - regardless of time and distance. Jaffe makes the point that Orwell would have loved the subversive nature of this revolution - the new age of conversation. Power to the people!
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br /Jaffe makes a passionate argument that markets are conversations - so of course marketers must be involved. Before reading the book I considered myself a bit of a Purist (on the Purist = Corporatist Scale) and I still do. What comes clear is how this apparent gulf between people and corporations can be bridged. It is simple really; corporations need to act human if they want to participate in the conversation. And that means giving up control, not always being right, respecting people building relationships instead of running campaigns, listening and acting like caring human beings.
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br /Along with lots of great examples of how companies are doing things right in conversational marketing, he has some great counter examples - and he's not afraid to call them out! (TIP: If you find yourself asking the lawyers to contact one of your best customers who is doing something odd with your brand or product, you are about to nominate yourself for the "Join the Conversation Hall of Shame". )
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br /My favorite thing about this book? Jaffe is very passionate about this subject and he doesn't pull punches. He is happy to get in an argument - and even offend if he thinks you don't get it. I also like the scholarly approach of the first half, because with this Join the Conversation provides the intellectual grounding in how corporations can get on board the Cluetrain.
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 Things to know before you buy or read this book
This book has a wealth of good information. I want to begin by giving it credit there. Jaffe is a radical thinker and many of his more extreme ideas strike me as rather deluded and I wanted to bring them up before others potentially accept them as fact.
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br /Jaffe contends that "shout" marketing will disappear. He is a huge advocate of 1 to 1 marketing. The conversation trend is certainly growing. In fact, this review is part of a conversation that helps consumers. But I am talking to you as another consumer, not a brand. If the brand were to join this conversation, it would be unwelcome.
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br /What I don't think Jaffe understands is that the consumer does not want to have conversations with most brands. Look around you - at the products in your home. You can probably think of a "shout" (traditional) campaign for most of these brands. How many of them would you want to take the TIME to have conversations with? Not possible.
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br /Jaffe accuses marketers of not knowing the individual (on page 14) and poses the question, "Do you know her name? Do you know what keeps her up at night?" as if (a) the consumer actually wants to talk individually with every (or even many) of the brands they buy, (2) the consumer wants you to know these kind of intimate details (what's next, asking when I first had sex?), and (3) the overhead of 1 to 1 marketing is not realistic for most companies.
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br /The book has many examples like the one I cited above that make me think, "wow, this guy is blindly in love with the 'conversation' to the point that he WANTS to attack other forms of media." These attacks feel like political attacks - without merit, just to score a few points, and don't contribute in clarifying the real equilibrium of the different mediums.
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br /I agree with another reviewer that his tone can be self-congratulatory and sophomoric. It becomes a bit offensive when you think he is completely wrong on a point and carrying on with his juvenile insults, as though he is so much smarter than everyone. Please.
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br /But I bet he's a fun guy to have a pint with.
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